Various optical surgical probes, tools and instruments have been developed to improve the accuracy and ultimate success of a given surgical procedure. Known imaging tools for visually closed-access surgical procedures, for example those channelled through an anatomical lumen (e.g. vascular, intestinal procedures), may include fibre optic scopes, optical coherence tomography (OCT) probes, micro ultrasound transducers and the like, wherein a generally flexible tool is inserted and channelled to a surgical site of interest. Similar tools for visually closed-access surgical procedures, for example those introduced within an open cavity such those involved in port-based surgical procedures or the like, may also include fibre optic scopes, in some instances, provided by way of a substantially rigid scope body that can be visually or externally tracked via a procedural imaging and tracking system, for example.
One particular impediment to the development of improved optical surgical tools, particularly as surgical procedures are continuously seeking to reduce or minimize required surgical access areas, is the lack of small-diameter optical probes and their related optical components. This challenge is only compounded for surgical probes involving multiple optical channels and/or paths.
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